Director-General pays tribute to the cultural heritage of Kyrgyzstan

On 25 August 2014, during her first official visit to the Kyrgyz Republic, the Director-General, Ms Irina Bokova, held a bilateral meeting with the President of the country, Almazbek Atambaev.

During this meeting, President Atambaev thanked the Director-General for her contribution to strengthening the cooperation between UNESCO and Kyrgyzstan. He underscored that UNESCO enjoys a very high visibility and reputation in the country and reiterated his country`s interest in UNESCO`s activities, notably in the fields of tangible and intangible cultural heritage. The President stated that over the past two decades, his government has attached much importance to its cooperation with UNESCO and expressed his appreciation for the Organization’s contribution to the promotion of the Kyrgyz culture worldwide. As a token of this recognition, he decorated Ms Bokova with the medal “Dank” of Kyrgyzstan.

The Director-General thanked President Atambaev and underlined that UNESCO enjoys excellent relations with Kyrgyzstan. In this regard, she paid tribute to the National Commission of the Kyrgyz Republic for UNESCO, which plays an important role in strengthening bilateral cooperation and promoting UNESCO’s ideals at the national level.

Irina Bokova underlined that Kyrgyzstan has important educational, scientific and cultural potential and reaffirmed that UNESCO stands ready, including through its Office in Almaty, to cooperate with the Government in order to support and promote Kyrgyzstan’s achievements.

Irina Bokova also recalled the importance of the inscription of the ‘Kyrgyz epic trilogy: Manas, Semetey, Seytek’ on the Representative List of Humanity in December 2013, highlighting the exceptional importance of the Manas for the culture and identity of Kyrgyzstan.

The Director-General also congratulated the President and Kyrgyzstan on the occasion of the inscription of the “Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Changan-Tian-shan Corridor” on the World Heritage List in June 2014 at the meeting held in Doha. In this regard, she presented to President Atambaev with the Certificate of inscription on the World Heritage List.

On the same day, the Director-General met with Deputy Prime Minister, Elmira Sarieva and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Erlan Abdyldaev, with whom she discussed a range of issues relating to the bilateral cooperation of UNESCO with Kyrgyzstan in all fields of competence of the Organization.